Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org
Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.
Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.
National Library, No. 1.—The Life of Lord Byron
Return we to our labours on this work—labours which we do not
delight in, and which therefore leave our pain unphysicked. We very sincerely lament that we
are, by our honesty, prevented from doing that which we earnestly wished to do, when we opened
We rather think, that, harshly as we delivered our opinion of the first volume
of the “National Library,” in the last number of this Journal, none of our readers
will accuse us of having failed to justify the judgment we passed upon talk with this same learned Theban.
” sleep in the shade.
”
We have already observed upon the splenetic feeling which characterizes the work: and we now, without further comment, illustrate our observations with the following passages.
“
” p. 13.
” and
generally disliked for the deep vindictive anger he retained against those with whom he
happened to quarrel.
“In the few reminiscences preserved of his childhood, it is remarkable
that he appears in this period, commonly of innocence and playfulness, rarely to have
evinced any symptom of generous feeling. Silent rages, moody sullenness, and revenge are
the general characteristics of his conduct as a boy.
” p. 14.
“Although the rhymes upon the lunar lady of Notts are supposed to have
been the first twitter of his muse, he has said himself, ‘My first dash into poetry
was as early as 1800. It was the ebullition of a passion for my first cousin,
” p. 27.
“It was impossible that his imagination could avoid the impulses of the
spirit which haunts the walls and ramparts of Malta; and the silence of his muse on a topic
so rich in romance, and so well calculated to awaken associations concerning the knights,
in unison with the ruminations of
” p. 69.
“During a violent storm the boat was swamped, and the party on board
were all drowned. Their bodies were, however, afterwards cast on shore;
“Wood in abundance was found on the shore, consisting of old trees and
the wreck of vessels: the spot itself was well suited for the ceremony. The magnificent bay
of Spezzia was on the right, and Leghorn on the left, at equal distances of about
two-and-twenty miles. The headlands project boldly far into the sea; in front lie several
islands, and behind dark forests and the cliffy Apennines. Nothing was omitted that could
exalt and dignify the mournful rites with the associations of classic antiquity;
frankincense and wine were not forgotten. The weather was serene and beautiful, and the
pacified ocean was silent, as the flame rose with extraordinary brightness.
“These antique obsequies were undoubtedly affecting; but the return of
the mourners from the burning is the most appalling orgia, without the horror of crime, of
which I have ever heard. When the duty was done, and the ashes collected, they dined and
drank much together, and bursting from the calm mastery with which they had repressed their
feelings during the solemnity, gave way to frantic exultation. They were all drunk; they
sang, they shouted, and their barouche was driven like a whirlwind through the forest. I
can conceive nothing descriptive of the demoniac revelry of that flight, but scraps of the
dead man’s own
” p. 258.
Our readers will be surprised to find that sexual feeling of female attraction,
” as
“It is singular, and I am not aware it has been before noticed, that
with all his tender and impassioned apostrophes to beauty and love,
” p. 15.
“There is upon the subject of love, no doubt, much beautiful
composition throughout
” p. 16.
The passage last extracted has reference to a boyish attachment which Hearing of her
marriage,
” says his Lordship, “several years after, was a thunderstroke. It
nearly choked me, to the horror of my mother, and the astonishment and almost incredulity
of everybody!
” Is there nothing of passion in all this? Was not this jealousy of
any other creature possessing
Again.
“During the time he was under the care of
” p. 27.
We promised in our last number, to cull a few of our word. But first, it may not be amiss to give a
specimen or two of what may be termed the Juvenile Library style—a style in which nonsense
flourishes with an almost inconceivable rapidity and vigour. The following passages ought
really to be done into English by some competent usher for the use of schools:—
“There is no account of any great poet, whose genius was of that
dreamy cartilaginous kind, which hath its being in haze, and draws its nourishment from
lights and shadows; which ponders over the mysteries of trees, and interprets the oracles
of babbling waters. They have all been men—worldly men, different only from others in
reasoning more by feeling than induction. Directed by impulse, in a greater degree than
other men, poets are apt to be betrayed into actions which make them singular, as compared
” p. 40 by those who are less imaginative; but the effects of
earnestness should never be confounded with the qualities of talent.
“They came like moths to the candle, and sarcasms in the satire which
had long been unheeded, in the belief that they would soon be forgotten, were felt to have
been
barbed with irremediable venom, when
they beheld the avenger
“The account given by
” p.
211. raciness of his
Lordship’s own quaintness, somewhat dilated.
“The change of life came over him, and when the
” p. 28. vegetable period of boyhood was past, the animal passions
mastered all the softer affections of his character.
“Still it could not have been to any inveterate degree; for
undoubtedly, in his younger years, he was susceptible of warm impressions from gentle
treatment, and his obstinacy and arbitrary humour were perhaps more the effects of
unrepressed habit than of natural bias; they were the prickles which surrounded his genius
in the bud.
” p. 31.
“These little infirmities are, however, at most only calculated to excite
a smile; there is no turpitude in them, and they merit notice but as indications of the humour
of character. It was his Lordship’s foible to overrate his rank, to grudge his deformity
beyond reason, and to exaggerate the condition of his family and circumstances. But the alloy of such small vanities,—his caprice and feline
temper, were as vapour compared with the mass of rich and rare
ore which constituted the orb and nucleus of his brilliancy.” p. 155.
We are out of breath at reading the last passage. It is indeed a wonderful composition.
The following words are rather new. epochal in the history of the developement of his intellectual
powers,” p. 73.—Wine is “expressed by the hand,” p.
77.—“I never in the whole course of my acquaintance saw him kithe,” &c. p. 130.—“At last it grew into a diseased crave,” p. 171.—“For, in addition to all his own clanjawphry, he had chattery and little ones,” p.
267.—“Whatever was the degree of dubiety,” p. 263.—“His mind had suffered by the decadency of his circumstances,” p. 311.—“Churming
an inarticulate melody,” p. 63.
But enough of this affectation. We trust we have made
It is very desirable that books should be well printed, and cheaply sold; but
it is of infinitely greater importance that they should be well written. The new Libraries are not like the libraries of old, full of standard works; but
no doubt the buttermen and cheesemongers will have prayers offered up in the churches, for
their continuance and increase!